Today we had more of a somber activity to start off. We went to the Dachau concentration camp, which was the first constructed in Germany, and was used as a model camp for the others to be based off of. Our tour guide gave us some general information about the camp, and also explained how they would make the camp seem better for inspectors by giving them better food that day along with other things. We walked into the camp and saw the notorious “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” sign on the gate.

The tour guide explained that Dachau was not an execution camp, which were mainly not in Germany. That being said, of the over 200,000 imprisoned during its operation, around 40,000 died. This was mainly due to disease, starvation, and sometimes as a result of being tortured. The guide also told us that they performed medical experiments on the prisoners, which to me is one of the more terrifying forms of torture they used.

When we went into the barracks, he explained how they used “capos”, which were essentially prisoners who were put in charge of the other prisoners. Again, this made me sad to think about because I can understand why an individual who is starving would do something like that in order to survive, but it must have been horrible to have to play a part in the Nazis plan. It was also shocking to hear about how the prisoners would run during role call to jump into the electric fence to end their suffering. I couldn’t imagine being in a situation so terrible that any form of death would be welcoming. He also described another torture method where they were forced to stand in a tiny vertical box and were encouraged to commit suicide.

Towards the end of our tour, he showed us the crematorium and gas chamber. There were pictures that the Americans took when they liberated the camp of bodies piled up outside the crematorium because they could not get rid of them fast enough. It was hard to look at these and again was extremely shocking that it’s even possible to treat people so horribly. We ended the tour by looking through the museum. The tour was definitely very eye-opening and it definitely put any problems I’ve ever experienced into perspective.

After returning home, my group went to the university to meet up with the German students in our group and work on the final project. Afterwards, Fox and I got Vietnamese food which was phenomenal. I’m now back at the hotel finishing up my blog so that Fox, Evan and I can watch Ted Lasso.